Eating in Bed
Or rather, eating THE bed.
Hi all, I'm Jo and my Fiance, Ken, and I have two cardis. Ripley is 13 months old now and her mother, Emma, is 5 1/2. Emma is an absolute dream as far as behavior is concerned, but recently we've had some problems with Ripley.
We kennel the dogs at night, and Monday through Thursday we are both out of the house during the day while I am in school. Up until a couple weeks ago we were using the Quiet Time kennel liners, and Ripley had chewed hers up a bit, but seemed to have stopped that behavior a month ago. So when we gave them some new, nicer mattresses (the Martha Stewart ones from Petsmart) we thought Ripley would be fine. And she was... for about the first week.
The first time we came home and there was a little chewing on the corner, we decided to kennel her with her two favorite rubber toys as a distraction. The next day we came home and there was stuffing everywhere, and her toys had been pushed to the back. She had eaten so much of the bed she made herself sick and we had to take the mattress away. She has her original bedding back, but we know it isn't as comfortable for her.
She's not an overly aggressive chewer, as she only chews on things that she knows are hers. She leaves pillows, shoes, clothes, etc. alone. How can we teach her which things that belong to her are not okay to chew on?
Does anyone have any suggestions that could help us get past this unwanted chewing?
Hi all, I'm Jo and my Fiance, Ken, and I have two cardis. Ripley is 13 months old now and her mother, Emma, is 5 1/2. Emma is an absolute dream as far as behavior is concerned, but recently we've had some problems with Ripley.
We kennel the dogs at night, and Monday through Thursday we are both out of the house during the day while I am in school. Up until a couple weeks ago we were using the Quiet Time kennel liners, and Ripley had chewed hers up a bit, but seemed to have stopped that behavior a month ago. So when we gave them some new, nicer mattresses (the Martha Stewart ones from Petsmart) we thought Ripley would be fine. And she was... for about the first week.
The first time we came home and there was a little chewing on the corner, we decided to kennel her with her two favorite rubber toys as a distraction. The next day we came home and there was stuffing everywhere, and her toys had been pushed to the back. She had eaten so much of the bed she made herself sick and we had to take the mattress away. She has her original bedding back, but we know it isn't as comfortable for her.
She's not an overly aggressive chewer, as she only chews on things that she knows are hers. She leaves pillows, shoes, clothes, etc. alone. How can we teach her which things that belong to her are not okay to chew on?
Does anyone have any suggestions that could help us get past this unwanted chewing?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on
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It just might be she has to go with the old bed until she outgrows the chewing. Rosie was death on zippers and tags which led to destruction of other parts of things that had zippers and tags. She just went for anything that was different on her beds. She will be 4 in April and seems to have outgrown it finally. She hasn't destroyed anything that way in over a year so hang in there. Ripley is probably more comfortable than you think. Rocky likes his pillows but Rosie digs them out of the way and lays on the crate floor, it's plastic, or on bare floor. She doesn't like a pillow or bed when we travel in the car either. Digs them out of the way and lays on the seat. I think she gets too hot.
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Jahn on
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That might be the case with Ripley too... She tends to push her bedding off to the side, be we had assumed it was just the result of her attempts to chew on it. Thanks for the input :)
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Permalink Reply by Chris West on
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Frosty used to destroy everything in his crate, so we would give him a big towel to lay on. He didn't seem as inclined to chew it as it had no stuffing, and then he could move it around however he wanted. He loved his towel.
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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Marie O'Bryan on
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i went through this for a bit but what i did to have him stop was i sprayed the lining of the bed with bitter spray. it stop him right away along with a king filled with frozen chicken and cheese(teddys favorite!) and cooked of course. i put a bit of cheese on the outside to get him going but then once he reaches the frozen stuff it will take him awile for it to come out. i work 4-6hours a day and it was almost gone but not completely
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Wait until Ripley is 2 years old, ours used to have the same problem, but after the "phase", they treat their beds with respect.
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Thanks so much for the info everyone, we're back to the liner and a blanket for now. It sounds like we will probably have to wait until next year to try something new again.
(Rebecca - I had not thought of freezing their kongs before, great tip! Ripley and Emma power through theirs)
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Your welcome:) I tried everything I could think of so he wouldn't get bored and chew his bed lol I really hope it works for you and let us know how he does:)
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Permalink Reply by Heather and Ella on
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Blankets seem to be best, nothing to rip up. Our little chew monster managed to unzip her bed with her front teeth (leaving it unharmed) and then pulled the foam out to destroy. That was over a year ago and she hasn't missed having a bed. Now she loves her fleece blanket.
:)
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